Elder Scrolls Legends: How to Play?

TES Legends is a new game made by Bethesda Softworks. Unlike other games from the series this is not an RPG. It’s card game with its rules and tricks. This guide explains how to play Elder Scrolls Legends. Read and you will find out the most important information about game modes, player avatars, cards and so on.

Game Mode

Everything starts from selecting game mode. Right now there are 5 game modes available:

Practice – Solo PvE match. One enemy, one encounter. Great for practicing.

Story Campaign – A short tutorial for beginners (2-3 hours in total). This game type will familiarize you with TES Legends and will provide you with your first decks.

Solo Arena – Series of PvE arena fights. Enemies: 8 NPC players and one final boss. It’s possible to lose 3 times before you will be knocked out.

Versus Arena – Series of PvP encounters. You will face with 7 opponents.

As you see there are Battles and Arena fights. The main difference of Arena encounters is that you receive much better rewards there than in solo games.

For some game types you will need to choose from your existing decks while others don’t allow using your pre-built decks. You will have to use the cards the game gives you. For example Versus Arena mode doesn’t allow taking your decks. You have to build a deck from the offered cards.

If you select to play against other players in one of PvP modes the game will start looking for opponents. Once the opponent is found you will be notified and the match will start.

Hand

First of all you will be shown 3 random cards from your deck. This is your starting hand. If you don’t like the cards you have an opportunity to reroll them once. You will be asked to select card or several cards you wish to return back to your deck. If you mark a card it will be returned to the deck and you will receive another random card instead. You can do this only once, so think before doing this.

Starting cards are rather important. In the beginning, it’s great to have several low-cost cards because you don’t have large amount of magicka.

Avatar

After you have drawn cards the game begins. The main objective is to destroy Avatar of the enemy. You both start with 30 HP. Once yours or your opponent’s HP drops to 0 or below the game finishes. Your avatar doesn’t have powers or attacks. He just represents player on the battlefield. You can attack creatures and enemy avatar with cards only.

Magicka

Every card requires certain amount of magicka in order to be played. The cost is written in the top left corner of every card. You start the match with 1 Magicka point. Every turn your Magicka pool grows by 1 up to 12 points maximum. You start every turn with full magicka pool.

Lanes

The play mat is divides into two different sides called lanes. It’s possible to draw cards to one of these lanes. The most important feature is that a creature from one lane can’t attack creatures from another. That’s the main difference of Legends from Hearthstone.

Runes and Prophecies

Your avatar is protected with blue 5 runes. You can see them around the picture of your hero. Every time your hero loses 5 HP a rune breaks and you receive a free card. If the received card is Prophecy card it can be played immediately during the opponent’s turn. This feature allows you to change the situation on the battlefield in some way. This is another interesting mechanics you will not find in other card games.

The Elder Scrolls: Legends is a competitive strategy card game set in the Elder Scrolls universe. But before jumping into it you should get familiar with the rules. Read this guide to find out how to play… [..]